How To Write About Women

Firstly include a creative title and a pleasing picture of a strong woman crossing her arms, because  you don't want to be seen as an anti-feminist by popular culture. Make sure to show you care; add a word like ''power'' or ''difference'' so you don't get any criticism. 

Always start the text off by giving the woman some background; a "clean job;" possibly a secretary or a teacher, a nurse if you wanna add some spice to the story. Make sure the woman reaches the high point of her life when she is a stay-at-home mother, because her main priority in life is pleasing her husband and children. Main lesson learnt about this story; emphasize taboo subjects. Love (unless death is involved), domestic scenes and music are good examples.

Moreover, Make sure she is small and graceful; she never goes one day without her makeup delicately applied and her hair curled. 

In your text, make sure to develop your woman as a typical feminine figure so the readers like her. You should be able to to include the famous "honey I'm home'" scene at a point of your text; where the husband comes home tired from a long day of work but is glad and dependant that "his" woman spent her whole day baking and cooking an appealing meal for him. If you want to make your woman single, make sure she is either studying to become a famous fashion designer or she's an extreme flirt. Make sure the highlights of her development and careers are filled with flashing lights, photographers, red carpets and an endless amount of makeup and hair products. 

Throughout the book, adopt an elegant and delicate tone to your writing. Always include scenes filled with luscious gardens and bouquets of flowers. If you want to include a conflict, make sure its love related and that it will always have a resolution.

I suggest that you end the book with the woman dancing through the ending scene, happy about all the cliché and perfect memories she reminisces about in the book. 

TFA: Paper 2 Analytical Response

-How do things Fall Apart conform to, or deviate from, the conventions of a particular genre and for what purpose?

Written in 1958, Chinue Achebe's Things Fall Apart explores the life of Okonkwo; a strong willed man who is a member of the complex Igbo tribe. The story continues as the readers is engaged with the cultural changes in society by British colonizers and white missionaries. African literature was not highlighted until the 1950’s, and this is one of the primary reasons why their struggle and their side of the story is not commonly known today. It is believed that the genre of Things Fall Apart falls under realist fiction. If we look at the typical conventions of a realist fiction text, it is seen that they are stoned in events that could have actually occurred to people in a believable manner. This highly contributes to the historical, cultural and social context of Things Fall Apart as all the realities of these factors in the tribe are in parallel with the content of the novel. Also, Achebe uses characterization to further highlight this genre as he doesn't present any particular characters in a certain light so the book does not demonstrate a personal bias rather than a depiction of reality. Firstly this response will explore the conventions of a typical realist fiction novel and Achebe's purpose behind the conformity to these conventions.  

Realist fiction differs from other types of novels such as historical fiction and non-fiction. Although realist fiction creates a certain type of plot that was not exactly true to real life events, the content of the text is usually realistic and includes events that could have actually happened in a particular time and place. Firstly lets look at why Achebe decided to follow the conventions of this genre. Why has Achebe decided to write a realist fiction novel? By using realist fiction, Achebe can clearly and successfully achieve his main purpose of writing the novel; to offer a multitude of perspectives about western colonialism in Africa and to not contradict a particular culture or their philosophies on imperialism. By creating a story that depicts these realities and engages the reader at the same time, Achebe can send African messages across in a more efficient way. Achebe intentionally using this genre in his novel is significant as it allows the reader to interpret a personal form of meaning to the novel but it still allows him to write about the realities in Africa at the time. This unbiased approach allows readers to not form a certain criticism to the book and Achebe can gain a sort of authenticity from his . Now the way Achebe conforms to this genre will be discussed. 

Firstly, if we look at the historical context of the novel, this story took place at the time of the development and widespread of British colonialism in Africa. Through his use of characterization, Achebe was able to follow the conventions of realist fiction and convey the unbiased and realist focus towards the novel; He didn't exactly antagonize any particular group of people and presented different perspectives to the story. Just because the Umuofia tribe was getting colonized and oppressed, Achebe still highlights that this oppression was not solely the one factor that lead to their downfall and that there were flaws and mistakes that were also contributory. Achebe uses the main character, Okonkwo to convey this message as we see the tragic flaws that Okonkwo carried out that lead to his downfall and eventual death. Throughout the story, we see Okonkwo striving to become the exact polar opposite of his father and gain the recognition of being a dominant and masculine figure; his natural balance of manliness, recognition, anger and violence brings him to his own destruction as he couldn't accept the fact that there was gong to be a more powerful concept present in his society. which ulitmetly lead his to end his life. The use of Okonkwo as a tragic hero could symbolize the entire Igbo culture as the reader recognizes throughout the novel that the culture includes a series of flaws that lead them tot heir own downfall and it was not solely based on imperialism; While being colonized is not necessarily something that is a consequences of Igbo actions, their inability to resist the oppression and fight back about their personal culture and belief lead them to lose their history and background.  displaying Okonkwo as a normal person that suffers from the clash and conflict between natural and developed flaws with pride, readers are more able to relate to the character and develop an open opinion for things. This shows how Achebe has an unbiased and realist approach to the way he portrays his main characters and plot in the story; if Achebe portrayed Okonkwo as a perfect human being who was completely oppressed against and violated by western culture, that wouldn't be showing the true realities of what happened in Africa at the time and would be biased. 

Moreover, if we look at the way Achebe conveyed the white missionaries, he didn't necessarily portray them as "a force of evil personified in the form of christian white missionaries.'' This can be directly seen by the integration of the white reverend, Mr. Brown, as it shows how white missionaries entered the society in a peaceful way first with the use of Christianity as a tool to analyze weaknesses of a tribe and attract convert. This also shows how the Igbo culture was flawed in that particular time as they had the chance to fight back and hold onto their cultural ideals but did not. 

Secondly, Achebe conveys the realities of the social and cultural factors of the tribe in the context of his novel and allows the reader to interpret whether or not the customs of their culture are necessarily flawed. This can be exactly demonstrated in the way gender is portrayed and valued in the tribe. 

Finally, if we look at the structure of the novel, Things fall apart isn't to in a chronological order. Since it is the point of view of Okonkowo, Achebe doesn't write in a way that portrayed his life from beginning to end, which is a much more historical approach to the genre. Instead, the plot includes flash backs to significant events that drove Okonkwo to pursue certain actions and behave the way he did in certain situations. So in summation, 

Words; 1098

Paper 2: Things Fall Apart Analytical Response

3- Discuss the significance of social status in Things Fall Apart, and comment on its contribution to characterization.

In the Igbo culture, the amount of respect that one deserves really depends on one's success. The culture detrmine's ones success by the amount of wives and barns that a man has.  Achebe writes, "Okonkwo was not a failure like Unoka. He has a large barn full of yams and three wives." (page 6). This allows us to emphasize the ideas of titles and social status. Titles are something that are defined throughout a man' lifetime based on his success in the culture. The privilege of having a relevant title is the gained respect from other members of the tribe. Okonkwo had an unsuccessful father. "among these people a man was judged according to his worth and not according to the worth of his father" (page 8). Unoka lacked responsibility. During his life, he never possessed a relevant title and, therefore, never gained status or respect from the villagers. Unoka's behavior was contrary to typical Igbo tradition, so he was not taken seriously and was treated un-respectfully by the Igbo clansmen and, later, by Okonkwo, his son. In contrary, Okonkwo still had a relatively successful life, despite what his father did. From this we could see that in Igbo culture, a man’s social status is based on merit rather than inheritance. A man can gain respect by his bravery in war, his athletic skill as a wrestler, and the productivity of his yam fields; as Oknonkwo did. Thus, if a man has a “title” then he has earned an increased societal position. Achebe keeps the reader up to speed on which male characters in the book have titles. Okonkwo has two titles, so that proves he is both extremely hard working and physically capable. Okonkwo’s father, on the other hand, never earned any titles – this shows that he was both lazy and generally incompetent. the story, we see Okonkwo attempt to gain the recognition of possessing a dominant title and become the polar opposite of his father. This shows us how much he values social status at a personal level. Thus, we see that Okonkwo's attempt to gain a masculine and dominant title is the main basis for his characterization in the novel. 

Okonkwo Character Analysis

Although Things Fall Apart conveys its main protagonist Okonkwo as a self-made, well-repected member of the Umuofia tribe, Chinue Achebe creates this character in a far more complex way. Okonkwo plays a great role in developing main themes and concepts throughout the story. In a classical sense, Okonkwo can be seen as a tragic hero."A tragic hero holds a position of power and prestige, chooses his course of action, possesses a tragic flaw, and  gains awareness of the circumstances that lead to his fall. Firstly, Okonkwo has a tragic flaw- his natural balance of manliness, recognition, anger and violence brings him to his own destruction. Throughout the novel it is seen that Okonkwo mainly values these traits and has a strong fear of weakness and failure. Okonkwo is always gruff and usually is unable to express his feelings- throughout the story we see that he holds in most of the actual emotions he felt because he wants to be recognized as a powerful and masculine figure. His emotions are indeed quite complex though- his manly values come in conflict with his unmanly emotions, such as his fondness for Ikemfuna and Ezinma. The narrator privileges us with information that Okonkwo to support this tragic flaw- fro example, a truly worried father beneath the seemingly different exterior while he follows Ekwefi in the forest in the pursuit of Ezinma. With that being said, Okwonkwo never really comes to a realization that his downfall may be a result of his wrongdoings or his tragic flaw. It is believed that Achebe chose Okonkwo as a tragic hero to reflect on the in tire Igbo Culture. Okonwo can be symbolic of the entire society and can explain how their downfall was due to their own doings. While being colonized is not necessarily something that is a consequences of Igbo actions, their inability to resist the oppression and fight back about their personal culture and belief lead them to lose their history and background. Other than showing different aspects of the Igbo culture through Okonwo, Achebe has also been successful in advancing several themes throughout the story. Firstly, there is an underlying theme that is shown through the plot of the story; fate vs. free will. Although Okonko works to reach his first priority of being the exact polar opposite of his father, he faces many obstacles that lead him to die at the same worth of his father. Again, if Okwonkwo represents the entire Igbo society, then colonization and destruction of the culture was an inevitable act. While they may have attempted to calmly drive the Europeans out, the eventual takeover of their land is something that could not have been stopped. 

From this we could see that there is an obvious conflict of fate vs. free will and it is shown that fate overpowers free will at the end of the story. Secondly, the theme of culture vs. personality is something that comes up with Okonkwo and other characters such as Obreika. While cultural beliefs are often forced upon every person in the Igbo society, there are instances where each character must question whether the actions are justified or not. many characters, including Okwonkwo, were attempting to reach and equilibrium between their cultural and personal beliefs. 

An African Voice-Chinue Achebe

Chinua Achebe's interview, "The African Voice" provided us with a great insight of the background behind the authors work and worldwide impacts. This interview has really highlighted the significance of Things Fall apart in the African community and literature, but it mostly served in uniting a number of cultures together that have been oppressed through imperialism. Personally, one of the most interesting points discussed in the interview was  in the idea of Things Fall Apart being a book about the story of dispossession. Firstly, Achebe mentions how he was surprised that people from all around the world responded to his book and somehow related to the story. This lead on to look the concept of "universal civilization." This concept looked at how the world can become united despite any difference. In the context of the novel, people from all around the world related to the book in the same way even though they didn't experience colonization similarly to the African culture. This just shows how powerful literature can be. we concluded that in order to achieve this idea of a universal civilization, differences should be understood and accepted;  Things Fall Apart was a way of meeting all the differences in cultures and finding similarities. We also discussed how African literature is a form of expression which allows African people to define themselves and portray their side of the story. looking at the theme of Oppression vs. The Opressed in African literature really opened our eyes and offered a different perspective of Africa. It is also interesting how literature can be used as a tool for expression and this reveals one of Things Fall Apart's purposes. And perhaps this relates to the idea of a universal civilization. In this situation, all the differences are set aside where they are able to agree on the impacts of colonialism.

Political Speech: Paper 1 Practice

Script:

 ‘It is a myth that rape is an inevitable part of conflict. There is nothing inevitable about it.

It is a weapon of war aimed at civilians.

It has nothing to do with sex, everything to do with power.

It is done to torture and to humiliate innocent people, and often very young children.

I have met survivors from Afghanistan to Somalia and they are just like us, with one crucial difference.

We live in safe countries with doctors we can go to when we’re hurt, police we can turn to when we’re wronged, and institutions that protect us.

They live in refugee camps or bombed out streets in areas where there is no law, no protection, and not even the hope of justice.

They struggle to keep their children safe and if they admit to being raped, they are likely to face more violence and social rejection.

Other survivors live in countries where war is over, but the peace has brought no justice. And as an international community, we are responsible for that.

We need to shatter that culture of impunity and make justice the norm, not the exception, for these crimes.

We need political will replicated across the world and we need to treat this subject as a priority.

We need to see real commitment to go after the worst perpetrators, to fund proper protection for vulnerable people and to step in and help the worst affected countries.

We need all armies, peacekeeping troops and police forces to have the prevention of sexual violence in conflict as part of their training.

More than 100 countries will be represented at the summit, and we will be asking them to take these measures. But we really do need your help.

This whole subject has been taboo for far too long.

War zone rape is a crime that thrives on silence and denial.

This stigma harms survivors and it causes feeling of shame and worthlessness.

It feeds ignorance, such as the notion that rape has anything to do with normal sexual impulses. But most of all, it allows the rapist to get away with it.

They feel above the law because the law rarely touches them and society tolerates them.

As Eleanor Roosevelt once said, ”The destiny of human rights is in the hands of all of our citizens and all our communities.”

And this evil will continue to ruin the lives of millions of people unless we make this summit a turning point - and we can.

We must send a message across the world that there is no disgrace in being a survivor of sexual violence; that the shame is on the aggressor.

We must work together in new and unprecedented ways across borders and religions, bringing governments and people together and tackling the problem from every possible angle.

And by doing this we can end the use of rape and sexual violence as a weapon of war once and for all. We really can do it.

So, thank you so much for joining us today, for joining us in this fight, and I wish us all a very productive summit.’

This essay shall attempt to analyze a speech, which was delivered by the actress and United Nations Special Envoy, Angelina Jolie. It is known that this certain text is in the form of a speech as it is written in second-person order to address an audience but still uses personal pronouns to develop a sense of opinion and awareness. In this particular speech, Jolie urges the global community to take action to put a stop to sexual violence in conflict-stricken countries. Recently, rape in war zones has been a recurring theme in Jolie’s United Nations work and this topic was brought into high relief in the UN summit: we could see that Jolie's brief opening statement matched that focus, tackling the topic in direct and forceful language. Her call to action to the delegates used her platform to speak about the issue in terms of the silence that often surrounds it. Jolie has put the time into understanding the issue firsthand, making herself an expert on an ignored issue. It shows in her remarks, loaded as they are with authentic and powerful content. As a result, she's a more credible spokesperson. “I have met survivors from Afghanistan to Somalia and they are just like us, with one crucial difference.”

Firstly, we know that the targeted audience for this speech is the global community as Jolie uses “we” to address people that are similar to her; people who live normal, fortunate lives in developed countries. This could be especially seen when Jolie says, “We live in safe countries with doctors we can go to when we’re hurt, police we can turn to when we’re wronged, and institutions that protect us… And as an international community, we are responsible for that.” Regarding the indirect audience, people who are interested in seeing Jolie’s developments in the political world or anyone that watched that particular United Nations Conference could reach this speech.  It could also be seen that the purpose of this speech is to firstly educate the public about the growing crisis of sexual violence in war-stricken countries, then to inform the public about their responsibility to resolving the issue. In the beginning of the speech, Jolie starts to address her topic by giving background of sexual violence in war and the consequences it has on civilians. “It has nothing to do with sex, everything to do with power. It is done to torture and to humiliate innocent people, and often very young children.” She then starts to plug in the target audience’s responsibility in the issue in order for developed communities around the world to come to realization of the growing problem and atrocious effects to therefore unite to make a change.

Although Angelina Jolie is typically portrayed as an entertaining and talented actress in the media, this speech shows a completely opposite side to her. We could see this in the tone and mood conveyed in the speech. The tone used throughout the speech is a very formal and portrays the intention of a powerful message. The vocabulary is formal with sophisticated words however it is clear and fully understandable to reach a wide variety of audience. The speech also carries a lot of words of call to unity and action; with things such as “We need to see real commitment to go after the worst perpetrators, to fund proper protection for vulnerable people and to step in and help the worst affected countries.” These types of words create a mood empowerment and unity, one of the main intentions of the United Nations. By using these phrases, the speech appears to draw the public together in one mutual interest. Because this is a speech that is specifically related to war, it can be considered as one that has a gloomy mood, this can be mainly due to the fact that it is the context of a painful and sensitive subject. This however does not overpower the mood of unity that was initially created. There is also a mood of strength and power in the speech, which is a result of the strong, concise tone and diction. Finally, it has a rather instructional tone where it is asking the public to believe in the speakers’ ideas and to follow them. Since this is a political speech, it is important for the words to have an instructional tone to them.

There is nothing simple about war-zone rape, but the style and language about this speech is clear and simple. These sentences for instance- “This whole subject has been taboo for far too long. War zone rape is a crime that thrives on silence and denial."- Contain words that are quite simple and have a minimal amount of syllables. . It's a myth that you need multi-syllabic words to prove your expertise, and Jolie is smart enough to know that. Regarding the presence of literary devices in the speech, there are many instances, which allow the author to further strengthen her points. Pathos is mostly seen in several instances to appeal to the audience. This appeal to emotion can increase the overall impact on the reader by addressing the reality of the issue. Pathos is mainly used throughout the speech in places where she attempts to project unity throughout the target audience. Regarding any rhetoric devices used, it is firstly realized that anaphora is used in the beginning of Jolie's statements where she repeats words. It can be seen that she starts off her many of her sentences similarly for instance, where she describes the impacts of sexual violence by starting her sentences with "it is." Secondly, a metaphor is used when Jolie describes sexual violence as "a weapon of war." This metaphor allows us the reader or listener to understand the role of the violence in countries and the extent of the impacts it has on on those countries. 

In summation, this text is in the form of a speech; a text type that is often full of different literary devices and follows a certain structure and tone in order to fulfill its message. This speech executed by Angelina Jolie does the same in order to accomplish its aforementioned aim. The targeted audience is clearly a widespread amount of general public, from fans to political leaders. The clarity of her speech justifies this claim. Jolie aims to educate the general public and members of the summit to address the seriousness of sexual violence and its impacts in third-world countries. Overall, the speech is very well crafted and convincing due to its wide range of language and devices, from emotional appeals to appeals that could reach a diverse audience.

Interactive Oral Commentary Practice

Critical Oral Analysis of a passage in Act 1 Scene 1

Lines 15-59

Conversation between Gonzalo, Sebastian, Antonio and a Boatswain. 

https://soundcloud.com/zena-agabani/ioc-practice